Terri Schiavo Dies

Terri Schiavo dies, but battle continues
Autopsy planned to clarify brain-damaged woman's conditionMSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 2:04 p.m. ET March 31, 2005PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo, the woman at the center of a family feud that became the focus of a national right-to-die debate, died Thursday, but her death did not end the controversy as her parents accused her husband of not allowing them to be present during Schiavo's final moments.



Schiavo died at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lay for years while her husband and her parents fought in the nation’s most bitter — and most heavily litigated — right-to-die dispute. She was 41.

An autopsy is planned, with both sides hoping it will shed more light on the extent of her brain injuries. In what was the source of yet another dispute between the husband and his in-laws, Michael Schiavo will get custody of the body and plans to have her cremated and bury the ashes in the Schiavo family plot in Pennsylvania.

The battle over whether to keep her alive galvanized the nation over the last month, with President Bush and Congress weighing in on the side of her parents.

The president, for one, said "millions of Americans are saddened" by Schiavo's death. “The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak,” he added. “In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in favor of life.”